The first thing to understand about the horses loose in Mesa Verde National Park is that “feral” is the correct way to describe them. They are domestic animals that have escaped – or more likely been abandoned. So, while they live in the wild, they are not wildlife.
The problem at Mesa Verde is twofold: Feral horses are, in effect, an invasive species, destructive and unsuited to the park’s environment. And there are simply too many of them. Overpopulation, not neglect, is the reason for any suffering they endure.
Wild horses do exist – in Disappointment Valley, for example. But they have been on their own for countless generations, long enough to have bred out any habits of domesticity or dependence on humans.
Mesa Verde now has more than 100 feral horses in 13 to 15 bands. Several have been found dead in recent weeks, with dehydration a factor in some of the deaths. That led to protests from horse lovers demanding that the Park Service provide water for the horses.
But Mesa Verde is not a wildlife preserve. And again, feral horses are not true wildlife.
Not only do the horses compete among themselves for water, which is naturally scarce this time of year, they have been documented driving deer and elk away from water sources. The Park Service rightly leans toward safeguarding native species, which in any case are better adapted to life in the wild.
As a Park Service biologist said, “Elk and deer will die in search of water, where we see horses die at a watering hole that has dried up. They won’t seek out another source because another band will deny them access.”
And perhaps some remember humans bringing water to them.
The answer to concerns about native species, the condition of Mesa Verde itself and the welfare of the horses is to reduce their number. Fewer feral horses would mean less damage to the park, less of an equine impact on native species and less suffering for any remaining horses.
How to cull their numbers, however, is not easily answered. In June, the park worked out an arrangement with the Colorado Chapter of the National Mustang Association to round up the feral horses. But the Park Service could not simply sell or give away the horses. Colorado law requires that they first be inspected, branded and then auctioned. (Probably a provision dating to a time when rustling was more of an issue than today.)
All that drives up the price, though, and the deal fell through. The National Mustang Association had hoped to put the horses up for adoption.
That leaves Mesa Verde officials looking for another fix. Perhaps in next year’s legislative session our lawmakers could carve out an exception or a separate provision for feral horses and public property.
Then, too, maybe the Park Service could work out something with the Ute Mountain Utes. The tribe has its own issues with feral horses competing with their cattle for food and damaging archaeological sites, so the Utes have been rounding up the horses and selling them. Tribal sovereignty means the Utes are not subject to the state requirements.
And yes, at some point, this ties into the emotional issue of horse slaughterhouses. Those are illegal in several states and effectively banned nationally by congressional refusal to fund federal inspections. Re-establishing them is supported by many horse lovers as a humane way to dispose of unwanted horses that might otherwise be abandoned.
Whatever the ultimate answer, the feral horses – and who let them get that way – are the problem, not Mesa Verde.
